by Jeffrey Hall
The same voice that wouldn’t leave her alone now.
Why couldn’t he just stay away like Risa and the other priestesses said normally happened? Why couldn’t he just go off to the jungle and forget their weeks together?
“Because you found a manta bird instead of a radasa,” Risa had told her when she asked her the same question. “A radasa male will fly across the world once his duty is done in search of another, wanting to spread his seed as far and wide as he can, but a manta wants to mate for good, hoping to find something more out of its companion than just a bit of pleasure.”
But what did he want? To be a father? A husband?
The man she had come to know over those few weeks was neither of those things. He was likely to dash off into the jungle on some new quest or in search of some inner peace on a moment’s notice. He wanted nothing to do with walls. With people. With the bonds they formed.
Or perhaps that was exactly what he wanted. A connection to someone other than those who would use him as anintermediary between them and the jungle.
It mattered not. She could not give him what he was looking for, no matter how low she felt for treating him how she did. She was a priestess of the Great Bird, and if she were to be taken away from this horrible place she would have to remain faithful to the creature’s laws.
She had already fulfilled the requirement of the sister moon by bringing a new life into the fold.She was just about to fulfill the requirement of the brother by caring for another until their death. All that remained was the requirement of the jackal, saving herself, and she would have achieved full priesthood and a position on the Great Bird’s progeny’s back when they hatched from the three eggs in the sky and carried their followers to where the Great Bird flew off to. Paradise. A place above this crumbling city with its murders, rapists, and criminals.
That’s if it ever came.
When she first met Risa on the streets as just another orphan of parents who had been lost to the jungle, she had been promised that in a few years’ time she would be taken away from the woes of her life.
Those few years had come and gone a long time ago, and yet here they still were. Waiting.
Risa told her the delay was only a test of their faith. That in order for the eggs to hatch all of the priestesses needed to have completed their three requirements. But during that wait the city had crumbled further around them. The Nest, the sanctuary that they called home, became more tarnished by the day. And the Fangmoran citizens more unruly.
Three of the other lesser priestesses had been missing for weeks,perhaps coaxed away from the eggs by some sweet-talking seed-bearer, or perhaps stolen like refuse waiting to be claimed on the streets. It was hard not to doubt her choice, especially with him showing up to cast confusion inside of her.
Every time he did she was immediately reminded of the parts of him she tried to forget. His voice. His dark, night-like eyes. The scars that ran over his body like mutilated markings intended to camouflage him from others’ eyes. The way his sweat traveled around those scars as if they were stones in a river as she coupled with him and she used him for what he was meant for...
Every time she saw him she was taken back to those weeks they had spent together, weeks where the troubles of the Nest seemed to be distant and far away as they hid in the room she had rented with the offerings of the Nest Risa had provided her with. It was only supposed to be a temporary thing. It was only supposed to last long enough for her eggs to be fertilized, and then she would have been gone, and she would forget him. But the more time they spent together, the more they fucked, the harder it was for her to leave.
The more she came to know the unique creature that was Ati Bibango, the harder it was to forget him.
And there she sat now, their child in her arms, staring out the window at the world she had been a part of briefly, watching the street Ati had escaped down and wondering what would happen if she decided to follow him down it one day.
A knock on the door startled her from her thought. She looked over her shoulder and saw Risa standing in her doorway. “How is your care?”
“His breathing is slowing. He hasn’t woken since the great fire was at its highest.”
Risa nodded. “It won’t be long now.” She pointed at Marli’s daughter. “And her?”
“Finally asleep.”
“He didn’t try to take her, did he?”
This again? Ever since Risa saw Ati leaving her doorway earlier, she had been asking her questions, probing to see if she and her child were safe. She shook her head. “He would never try something like that.”
“You don’t know the hearts of men.”
“I know his,” said Marli.
Risa laughed. “After just a few weeks? I think not. A man’s heart has a harder shell than an agasa fruit. It takes years to penetrate it. He is no different.”
Her daughter stirred and she pulled her closer to her chest.
“Keep faith, my hatchling,” said Risa. “The time is drawing near. It won’t be long now before the eggs hatch and you are taken away from him.We will be taken away from all of this.”
“Yes, Grand Priestess,” she said, hoping that would dismiss Risa for good. Marli was tired. The times when both the baby and her care were quiet were rare. She needed those times to rest and be alone with her thoughts. But Risa walked to her side and put her finger to her chin to gain her attention. Their eyes met, and Marli felt like the grand priestess was attempting to gaze into her thoughts.
“Do not let doubt creep into your mind, my hatchling.” When she spoke her ears flattened. “It is a weed that will only grow to tie you down and keep you from the Flight when the time comes.”
“Of course, Grand Priestess,” she said, her eyebrows furrowing. She tried to swallow away her thoughts, feeling foolish for even having them. It was only Ati casting his spell of confusion on her. If he really wanted to be a part of their lives he would have fought harder, he would come by more often.Risa was right. Salvation lay where she had always suspected. In the Great Bird’s progeny. She nodded. “I still await the Flight, just as you.”
Risa removed her hand from her chin. “Good. I’d hate to look back on the city from high above and see you both amongst its ruins.” She pointed to the baby before turning and walking out the door.
Marli looked down at her daughter, so quiet and still at last. At peace. Unaware of the chaos that infected her surroundings. Unaffected by the disorder that crept through the windows and walls, attempting to find its way into her malleable, untouched heart. There was no one else to protect her from it besides Marli.
Not the grand priestess. Not these crumbling walls. Not Ati.
It was up to her and her alone to protect her and find their escape. And Marli knew too well what types of escapes the streets offered. Her years as an orphan had showed her every possible one.
The Flight was their only chance, so why think of anything else?
She rose from her seat, careful not to wake her daughter, and lay down on her bed. She turned her back to the window, refusing to look out of it anymore. But even as she did, the light of the nearby glow-blossoms still found their way through and shone against the cracked walls of her room, making false promises, telling her that in the outside she would find a way through the darkness.
She closed her eyes, refusing to believe its lies.
But in the back of her lids, where darkness should have been utter and complete, she still saw that light transposed against the blackness, a more brilliant blue, sparkling like the light of the unhatched moons that hung invincible, refusing to crack, refusing to take her away.
Chapter 3
Wish stood before one of the cracks in Fangmora’s walls, trying to muster the strength to return through it, looking back at the jungle as the great fire took to the sky.There were a hundred mog beetles shuffling about the nearest tree, each of them flashing one of their different sets of colored wings to communicate to one another about whatever job they we
re up to at the moment. It was a beautiful show. One that Wish could have stayed and watched for the rest of the day if he didn’t have to return to the city.
His night in the jungle had provided him a temporary relief from his troubles. In its darkness, its constant chatter, he had found comfort. But as the great fire rose, so did that familiar tug of his responsibilities, and soon that peace was torn away from him.
There were more jobs to take. More lunars to be earned. More that needed to be taken care of. And the faster he took care of those things, the faster he could return to his true home.
He sighed and reentered the city.
He was met by the haze of smoke that still drifted off of the nighttime street fires lit to keep the jungle beasts away and the fog that often crept down from the mountains in the morning. It made everything feel eerie, as if the city were attempting to hide its true intentions for the coming day. He crept along the path he had used to exit his house only the night before, still deep in thought, still picturing Marli and his daughter juxtaposed against the window and what she had said, but was interrupted when he heard voices coming from his father’s house.
“It’s a war,and the Trough is our kingdom. If you wish to stay within its borders, then you will pay.” The voice spoke softly for the harshness of the speaker’s words.
His father’s tone was much less pleasant. “To the Flaw with you. I’ve lived here longer than any of you combined. You think I’ll move my wife’s bones just because of some trouble you started? You are greater fools than you look with those leaves behind your ears.”
Green Men. Wish’s stomach plummeted as he came to the window and peered in. Two stood at the doorway, a pair of hulking Treebacks in plain brown robes, while a third, a human woman with a shaven head, stood in front of his father. She wore a set of fangwood armor, its jagged bark giving her body a broken, disorganized look. As she smiled at his father, she showed a single tooth painted green to match the leaf behind her ear. It was a smile that reminded Wish of Marli’s.
“There is still room on that shelf for more bones, old one,” said the woman.
Wish saw the look on his father’s face and slipped through the window before he could react. The two gorillas at the doorway unveiled machetes from underneath their robes, massive things that looked more like cleavers, but the woman only turned and continued smiling.
“I am not a threat,” said Wish, holding up his hands to the Treebacks as he put his feet to the floor.
“Gods know that you should consider him one,” said his father. “He’s faced creatures a hundred times more terrifying than the likes of any of you.”
“I am sure the Djinn of Larmii has,” said the woman, and she put up a hand to the Treebacks. The gorillas returned their weapons to their robes.“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wish Bibango.”
Wish nodded, taking the woman in. He had never seen her amongst the rest of the Green Men’s crowds, but he wasn’t surprised. They recruited more followers by the day. She was probably just the newest scum scraped from the street and convinced that fighting the king was the only way to survive.
“I am Trice Dira,” she said, putting her hands up as if to apologize. “That’s it. I have yet to receive such wonderful monikers as you have accumulated, but perhaps that will change in the weeks to come.” Her hand returned to rest on the head of a club that hung from her hip. A small totem of a shocked human face was etched in its wood. Wish couldn’t fathom what it did.
“We can pay your tax,” said Wish. He glanced at his father. “Did he not give you the lunar?”
“I gave them the damn moon,” said his father, “but now they want the great fire too.”
Wish looked at Trice, his eyebrows raised.
“He gave us the lunar, but I am afraid the tax has gone up significantly overnight.”
“Why?” said Wish.
Trice leaned against the table. “A Fangmoran soldier was killed last night. He tried to enter the Trough without our permission to collect taxes that were not rightfully his, and we were forced to prevent him from going any further.”
Wish remembered seeing the body last night and the crowd that gathered around it. He’d thought it was nothing more than another unfortunate soul claimed by the jungle or one killed by the Green Men for not paying their debts. He’d never imagined it to be a corpse capable of starting a war.
Trice continued, voicing his own thoughts. “The first blood of the long-gestating war against the king has finally been spilled. We require all possible resources of our citizens to win it. If they cannot pay it, then they cannot afford the right to live beneath our protection.”
His father laughed. “What nonsense. The right to live beneath their protection? Don’t they know—”
“How much?” said Wish, stopping his father before he could say anything else inflammatory.
“Seventy-five lunars,” said Trice, as if the number was as common as a single crescent.
“Did you hear that? Seventy-five lunars. Who do you think lives in the Trough?” His father slapped his cane against the wall in outrage. “You’ll be lucky enough to find that much amongst everyone combined.”
Wish eyed the woman, hoping for some sign of a joke, but he quickly realized he was foolish to go searching for one in a woman as serious looking as her, despite her smile. There was no possible way they could have expected any of them to pay.
“Then they will not be fit for our kingdom.”
He didn’t need to ask to understand what they meant. “When do you need it by?”
“You can’t be serious—” began his father, but Wish cut him off by raising his hand.
Trice smiled at the interaction. “It seems that at least someone is listening in this conversation. We need it by the end of next week. Our efforts will have begun by then.”
“You’ll get it,” said Wish.
Trice nodded. “Finally, a reasonable, understanding spirit. We’ll see if the stories are right about you. We’ll see if you make wishes come true.”
She turned towards the door and the two Treebacks exited before her, but not before Wish’s father had his say.
“You are criminals. Thieves worse than the king. You should walk the darkness, same as him.”
Trice stopped at the door. “Only more terrible defeats terrible. When he is ousted, then this city will sparkle once more and the dirt needed to make it shine will be swept out with the rest that pollutes it.”
She exited and closed the door gently behind her.
“Worthless trit,” said his father. He turned to Wish and shook his head. “Seventy-five lunars? Are you mad?”
Wish kept his eyes on the door, afraid that Trice would come back in and raise the tax.“We can’t stay here anymore. We’ll need to move further into the city. Find a small room somewhere.”
“And move your mother’s bones from her resting spot? You’re a fool if you think I am putting her down in the street without a roof over her head. She deserves peace, Ati. She suffered enough in the last year of her life.”
“We’re not going in the streets.”
“Then where? Last time I heard the price of a place upon the Striped Streets was triple the cost of anything in the Trough.”
His father was right. Last Wish heard even a small room in a place was going for over eight hundredlunars, and to rent it, two lunars a day.At that rate they’d be out in the street in a week. Already his mind was churning, attempting to come up with jobs and higher pay. He could go to Vala and offer to catch her a live hollow monkey, or reach out to Bothi and see if he was in the market for woga fur again... Yet even if both agreed to his terms he’d have to find others jobs to even come close to raising that much in that time. And they would most likely be jobs that would get him killed quicker than if he were to try and face off against the army of Green Men that pervaded the streets of the Trough. He rubbed his brow, attempting to press away the ache that had accumulated behind it.
“What? You’re not actuall
y worried about them doing something, are you?”
“Do you think the talks of those murdered on the streets are just rumors? I’ve seen the bodies.”
“Then I’ll gladly be one of them. Either we find a new home for your mother’s bones or else I’ll join her. Then they can do what they want with this rubble.”
“That’s what they’re expecting,”Wishsaid under his breath. Rubble is exactly what they would make of the Trough. It was nothing more than a barracks for them. A place for their organization to gestate. A larder for them to pillage in order to further their agenda, a thing no different than the king’s except for the good-willed notions they hid behind:protection of Fangmora’s citizens against the jungle and the king’s greed. It was a farce, nothing more. Wish had seen enough of their dealings to know they sought power and money same as King Rasha, and now they finally had an excuse to fight for it out in the open instead of sticking to the shadows and alleys.
The Trough was nothing more than a stone to be stepped on to catapult themselves further. And if his father didn’t move out of the way, he’d be nothing but a splattered remnant beneath their footfalls.
A knock on the door took Wish from his thoughts.
“Probably the trit coming back to ask for a few more lunars from her willing participant,” said his father.
Wish ignored him and pulled open the door. He was surprised to see Moso on the other side of it.The Chassa stood with his hand on his head, his eyes glossy and red.He reeked of beer, even from the distance he stood from Wish. But Wish barely afforded him a glance. Beside Moso stood a small Eclectun.His feathers were a brilliant blue, and his beak, an even brighter yellow.Most surprising of all were his wings. Vines had been tied over them. Long, thin leaves grew from the plants, making them look like green extensions of the bird’s feathers.
Surprised you’re actually here, signed Moso. Thought you would be shitting in the jungle somewhere.